Department for Transport capital funding

The Department for Transport (DfT) provides capital funding for Highway Maintenance through the Maintenance Block Grant. Details of the grant and how it is allocated to local authorities can be found on the Local transport capital block funding page on the Gov.uk website.

In addition, the DfT on occasions provides additional maintenance funding, for instance after harsh winters, or provides the opportunity for local authorities to bid for additional maintenance funding. Our allocations and bids for additional funding are available below.

Pothole Action Fund 2018/19

In April 2017 the government announced a £250 million Pothole Action Fund. Funding is calculated according to the size of the local road network in the area and for 2018/19, Surrey was allocated £1,878,063.

We have used our allocation as part of a "Preventative Programme" to deal with actual and potential potholes on our minor (lower category) roads. We have used a range of methods including; hand lay repairs (patching), machine repairs (patching), jet patching, thermal patching and Rejuvophalt.

The 2018/19 Preventative Programme, which has cost £3.5 million in total, has removed or prevented approximately 42,000 defects. This means that the allocation from the Pothole Action Fund has removed or prevented approximately 22,000 potholes from our road network. The innovative nature of this programme means that as well as removing or preventing potholes, we have also been able to add life back into the road network rather than just filling potholes.

Additional Highway Maintenance Funding 2018/19

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Budget 2018 that the Government is allocating £420 million in the 2018/19 financial year for local highways maintenance. This includes the repair of potholes, keeping local bridges and structures open and safe, as well as helping other minor highway work that may be needed.

Surrey County Council have been allocated £7,409,000.

Alongside this, we embarked on a £20 million programme of repairs to the road network following the severe weather in 2018 ('Severe Weather Recovery Programme'). Both the cold weather in winter and the hot weather in the summer caused significant damage to our roads. We spent £12 million in 2018/19 and are spending a further £8 million in 2019/20.

Our £7.4 million share of the £420 million is being used to help fund our Severe Weather Recovery Programme.